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Couplet
| | | | }} | gueststarring = | }} | costarring = | | | | | | | }} | uncredited = | | }}}} }} "Couplet" is the fourteenth episode of the third season of Angel and the fifty-eighth episode overall. Written by Tim Minear and Jeffrey Bell and directed by Tim Minear, it was originally broadcast on February 18, 2002 on the WB network. The Groosalugg, exiled from Pylea, arrives in Los Angeles. Angel wonders if he is needed on the team anymore. Gunn and Fred begin a romantic relationship. They end up underground as captives of a life-draining tree creature. The Groosalugg fails to save them, but Angel steps in and succeeds where the Groosalugg could not. Cordelia and the Groosalugg leave town on a vacation trip to begin their own relationship. Wesley acquires an ancient book, where he finds a disturbing prophecy about baby Connor. Synopsis Angel and Lorne talk about Cordelia's relationship with the Groosalugg. Angel claims there is nothing between him and Cordelia and that he prefers being a solo act. Lorne does not believe him. At Cordelia's apartment, the Groosalugg briefly explains how he was overthrown. He says he was bored with government and is glad to be out of power. The two kiss, but Cordelia sees him for an instant as a demon speaking with his voice and pulls away. The next morning, Angel comes downstairs carrying Connor. Wesley is the only one already at work. He takes the opportunity to talk privately with Angel about the strangeness of Connor's birth, though Angel, at first, thinks he is talking about the Groosalugg. Wesley acknowledges that, without the Nyazian prophecies, information will be hard to come by, but he hopes that he can find something in scholarly commentaries. Cordelia and the Groosalugg come in. Cordelia tells Wesley she has had a new vision, of a spiny demon, the same one she saw earlier speaking with the Groosalugg's voice, that will rise later that day. She also complains that she is unable to have sex with the Groosalugg for fear that her visions will pass to him. Wesley suggests that a paranormal prophylactic might be devised. Gunn and Fred are sharing breakfast in a beachfront diner. Fred says things are different now that they have kissed. They are about to kiss again when both their cell phones ring. Wesley is calling them to work. Back at Angel Investigations, Wesley has identified the demon from Cordelia's vision as a Senih'D. He says it will rise before nightfall in the mid-city area and will immediately seek to feed. The Groosalugg says he is familiar with this kind of demon from his days in Pylea and knows how to track and kill it. Angel and the Groosalugg track the Senih'D demon through the sewers. The Senih'D finds them and attacks. When the demon escapes to a city park, where it is broad daylight, Angel cannot follow, so the Groosalugg pursues and kills the demon alone. The AI teams arrives just in time to see his heroics. Angel must remain in the shadows while the Groosalugg receives hugs and thanks. Later, as Groo reenacts his fight with the Senih'D, Angel Investigations is hired by Ms. Frakes, a woman convinced that her fiance is under a love spell (which is the only reason she believes that he would speak to another woman online). With only a username to follow, the best course of action appears to be to trail the fiance. Wesley, eager to get Gunn out of the way for a while, assigns him this job. However, this idea backfires when Fred tags along. Angel and Wesley visit a rare book store to purchase an ancient commentary that may help them understand Connor's significance. Angel confesses to Wesley that he feels inferior to the Groosalugg, who can do everything he can some things he can't, and fears the Groosalugg might replace him. Wesley attempts to console him. Back at AI headquarters, Cordelia prepares to give the Groosalugg a haircut. They discuss the reasons Cordelia feels she cannot have sex with him. Gunn and Fred are parked in Gunn's truck near Plummer Park, staking out their target, who is standing by the roots of a large tree apparently doing nothing. They kiss. When they look up, their target has disappeared. Angel and Wesley return to AI headquarters, where they meet the Groosalugg, who has had a haircut and is wearing some of Angel's clothes so that he now looks much like Angel. Angel finds Cordelia behind her desk. Cordelia asks Angel to help her have sex with the Groosalugg. She needs Angel, along with the Groosalugg, to visit a demon brothel, where there is a woman who can provide a potion that will enable Cordelia to have sex without losing her visions. Fred and Gunn search around the tree where their quarry disappeared. Their camera shows the tree dragging their quarry underground. As soon as they learn this, the tree extends roots above ground and drags them underground as well. At the demon brothel, Angel and the Groosalugg buy the potion. Angel receives a cell phone call from Gunn, who along with Fred is trapped underground, held by the roots of a tree. They see Jerry, the man they were tailing, with a root stuck into his body. The tree has a computer with a DSL connection and a dating site showing on its screen. Fred says its game is to lure lonely people to within its reach and then pull them underground to feed on them. Angel and the Groosalugg walk through the sewers toward the place where Gunn and Fred are trapped. Angel warns the Groosalugg not to be too hasty. The Groosalugg hands the bottle of potion to Angel for safekeeping, then rushes headlong toward the tree, which impales him on one of its roots. After ascertaining that the tree is made of flesh and not real wood, Angel taunts the Groosalugg and hits him several times, while claiming to be superior to him. The tree takes the bait, releases the Groosalugg, and attacks Angel, not knowing he is a vampire. Angel's dead body saps the tree's strength, until Gunn and Fred can get free. They attack the tree with the Groosalugg's sword, killing it. At AI headquarters, Wesley debriefs Gunn and Fred. As the two of them leave to clean up, Wesley asks Gunn to stay. Wesley says he is concerned about Fred. Gunn promises he will not hurt her. Cordelia dresses the Groosalugg's wounds. The Groosalugg confesses that he was reckless and endangered everyone, adding that Angel is the true champion. Cordelia is impressed that the Groosalugg would renounce the credit that way, asks for the potion, and drags the Groosalugg out of the room. Angel hands Cordelia a roll of cash and asks Cordelia to take a vacation with the Groosalugg. Angel goes upstairs to relieve Lorne at Conner's crib. Downstairs, Wesley has finished translating a passage from the book that he and Angel purchased earlier that day. He is joined by Angel with Conner, who is happy as, since he has his son, he knows he isn't truly alone. As Angel leaves, Wesley can only look grimly at his translation: The Father will kill the Son Continuity *At the beginning of episode, Lorne smells the perfume of Angel's jacket and says he didn't have this smell the night before. This refers to previous episode "Waiting in the Wings" when Angel got magically attracted and started making out with Cordelia. *During Angel and Wesley's visit to the book store, a book with a red cover bearing a picture of a wolf is visible. This is the same book Wesley saw in Pylea, from which he determined that Wolfram & Hart, under a different name, was active in that dimension. *This is the last time Wesley will see the "real" Cordelia until "You're Welcome", almost two years later. Cordelia will be on vacation for three episodes, where Wesley becomes estranged with Angel Investigations. Wesley remains separated from the team for the rest of the season, with Cordelia becoming a higher being in the season finale. When Cordelia returns from the higher plane, she has amnesia. Then Cordelia becomes possessed by Jasmine before falling into a mystical coma. Body Count *Sehni'D demon, killed by The Groosalug with a sword *Root demon, killed by Angel and Gunn with a sword Behind the Scenes Music *Robert J. Kral - original score International titles *'German:' Einsam, zweisam (Lonesome, Twosome) *'French:' Rivalités (Rivalries) Pop Culture References *Lorne tells Angel "Fine Miss Garbo, Have it your way, be alone". This refers to Greta Garbo who led a private life of simplicity, never married, had no children, and lived alone as an adult. *Cordelia mentions Battlefield Earth, a movie in which the haircut of some characters is somewhat reminiscent of the Groosalugg's. *She also refers to the biblical story of Samson, fearing that, just as he did, the Groo will lose his strength if she cuts his hair. Other *Gunn gives the location of the tree where he and Fred are trapped as "near Plummer Park." This is a real park, located at 7377 Santa Monica Blvd, West Hollywood, CA 90046. *It was planned that Angel and Groo would find Kate Lockley as a working girl in the bordello they visit but Elisabeth Röhm was too busy appearing in Law & Order to fit in the cameo. nl:Couplet Category:Angel Season 3